


Breathless

by mjsakurea



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Missing Scene, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Whump, One Shot, Protective Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Strangulation, Whump, not the sexy kind, the van scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26153134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjsakurea/pseuds/mjsakurea
Summary: "Nicky’s mouth gaped open and closed and his eyes started drifting towards the back of his head. Joe heard the guard strangling his love chuckle above him. 'Maybe now you’ll learn to behave,' he said.Joe saw red."~~~My take on the iconic van scene after Joe and Nicky are pulled apart by the guards. I noticed that before the scene cuts, it looks like the guard starts to grab Nicky's neck. Of course, I saw this as an opportunity for whump.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 19
Kudos: 456





	Breathless

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching a gif of when Joe and Nicky were pulled apart after their kiss and it looked like the guard grabbed Nicky's neck. Maybe that's what happened and that's why they ended up fighting the guards. My headcanon for the missing scene. Please enjoy!

As soon as Joe coughed himself back to consciousness, the first thought, the only thought in his head, of course, was Nicky. Eyes coming back into focus, Joe saw Nicky lying unmoving on the floor of the van next to him. The anxiety of being captured melted away to a feeling of relief that he had not been separated from his other half.

That relief was short-lived as he realized Nicky was still unconscious. Whether he was purely unconscious or worse, dead, Joe did not know. Desperately, Joe reached out his zip-tied hands to grasp as Nicky’s shoulder. At his touch, Nicky twitched subtlety. Good, he was still alive, Joe thought.

Knowing his love was alive, Joe called out to him, “Nicolo.”

“Quiet,” the guard sitting closest to Nicky ordered as he kicked Joe’s chained feet.

“Nicolo, wake up, _wake up_!” he urged in Italian, reaching out to his love again. This was met with another demand to be quiet and a rough yank back by the guards behind him.

“I know what you said, what are you gonna do, kill me?” The guard scoffed under his breath and leaned back. The guards behind him released his shoulder. Kill him or don’t, Joe did not care. He refused to sit idle without the alive and awake presence of his heart. If whoever kidnapped them intended to separate them, the time before they reach their destination could be the purgatory before the lonely hell they could be subjected to. Joe would not waste a minute of the guaranteed time he had left with Nicky.

Joe leaned in close to Nicky’s prone form. “Wake up, please wake up,” he repeated. Joe shrugged off another hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, Nicky gasped out, “I’m here, I’m here.” Joe took a sigh of relief. “Wherever here is,” Nicky continued, pushing himself up off the van’s floor with his elbows.

Joe explained the situation to him as best he could. They were in an armored van surrounded by heavily armored guards who had managed to take to take them out with gas. If they got to Booker, Andy, or Nile, Joe did not know, so he did not mention this to Nicky.

“I told you, _shut up!_ ” the guard snapped. Joe took a deep breath. As much as he wanted to give this guard a piece of his mind, he knew deep down that he was still human, they all were, and these guards did not have the benefit of almost a thousand years of life to put aside hatred and prejudice.

“I need to know he’s okay,” Joe said, locking eyes with the guard. Despite his cruelty on the surface, this man could have loved ones back home, wherever home was for him. Joe hoped his plea would get through to this man, that he would somehow understand his need to talk to his love. Instead of understanding, the guard laughed.

“That’s sweet. What, is he your boyfriend?” He jeered. The rest of the group laughed. Joe’s eyes shifted to Nicky as his eyes drooped and he sighed audibly.

“You’re a child,” Joe snapped out. The guards shut their mouths quickly and turned to face him. “An infant,” he continued, “Your mocking is thus infantile. He’s not my boyfriend. This man is more to me than you can dream. He’s the moon when I’m lost in darkness and warmth when I shiver in cold and his kiss still thrills me after a millennium. His heart overflows with a kindness of which this world is not worthy of. I love this man beyond measure and reason. He’s not my boyfriend,” Joe paused, turning to look at Nicky’s face whose eyes were once again open wide and a subtle smile adorned his face. “He’s all and he’s more,” Joe finished staring directly into his love’s ocean-like eyes. Joe’s eyes welled up with unshed tears. If this was to be the last time he could stare into Nicolo’s beautiful eyes, he would stare for all eternity if he could. The thought that they could be separated at any moment drove a dull knife into his heart and poisoned it with anxiety.

Sensing Joe’s distress, Nicky smiled warmly. “You incurable romantic,” he beamed. He started to lean forward and Joe met him halfway. Their lips collided with a desperate force. Joe smiled into the kiss as Nicky deepened it. With hands still bound, Joe reached up to cradle Nicky’s face. Time slowed. Joe tried to communicate the 900 years of love he had harbored for this man into that single kiss, not knowing if it would be the last one they shared.

After a length of time which, quite frankly, Joe was surprised the guards let them remain together for yet at the same time was too short, the guards pulled them apart roughly. Joe groaned and Nicky let out a quiet exclamation of pain.

“Okay, enough of that!” the guard said while yanking Nicky back by the shoulder. As Nicky struggled, he moved his hand to Nicky’s throat, grip tightening. Joe’s eyes widened as he realized the guard’s intentions. Nicky’s gaze met his and his mouth opened in a silent gasp. The guard shifted his weight, increasing his pressure on Nicky’s throat. Nicky kicked his legs out and his arms shook as his breath left him.

“No, let him go!” Joe struggled violently against the guards holding him. Were it only one guard holding him back, he did not doubt he would have been able to break free. Unfortunately, these guards were not underestimating them. Joe’s eyes held Nicky’s, taking in his fear and his pain. If Nicky died, this would not be the end, Joe knew that in his heart, this world would not be so cruel as to take his love from him now after all they had endured, but nonetheless, seeing the life slip out of him was as painful as dying himself.

Nicky’s mouth gaped open and closed and his eyes started drifting towards the back of his head. Joe heard the guard strangling his love chuckle above him. “Maybe now you’ll learn to behave,” he said.

Joe saw red.

In a split second, Joe kicked his feet swiftly into the guard’s shin. In his surprise, he released Nicky’s neck. Nicky slumped down and Joe saw a purple bruise already fading from his throat. The men behind him holding his shoulders also softened their grip in surprise at the sudden outburst. Joe used that brief opportunity to swing an elbow up into the guard on his right’s nose causing blood to spurt from it. He fully released Joe to grasp at his now-broken nose. The guard on his left pulled his gun out and aimed it directly at Joe’s head, but before he pulled the trigger, Nicky leaped up and tackled him, the guard’s head colliding with the wall of the van and knocking him out. Joe stood up and crashed into the guard that was to Nicky’s right. Nicky finished knocking out the guard with the broken nose and soon all the guards were unconscious.

Once they had knocked out all the guards, Joe sighed deeply and collapsed down to the bench on the side of the van. Nicky sat down on the floor of the van and scooted over to sit at Joe’s feet. Joe looked down at Nicky to see him staring straight ahead at the rear doors of the van. Hesitantly, Joe reached out his hands to gently take Nicky’s chin and lift it up and towards him with the tips of his fingers. He studied the pale skin of his love’s neck, looking for any sign of the bruises it had sustained just minutes earlier. Of course, none remained, but the memory of them did.

“Yusuf,” Nicky said softly, “I am fine.” He reached up his bound hands to grasp Joe’s and pulled them down from his chin. Joe clasped Nicky’s hands in his own and pulled them up to press a kiss to the back of his hand.

“I’m sorry, my love, I’m sorry they hurt you,” Joe whispered, still clasping Nicky’s hands.

“No wound will ever harm me as long as I am with you.”

Joe choked out a soft sob. He could not help the fear plaguing his mind. He did not know how close their destination was. He did not know what would happen when they reached it. All he knows is that he could not bear to be parted from Nicky.

“Nicolo, if they—”

Nicky, always knowing what is on Joe’s mind, placed his hand on Joe’s knee and said, “Do not worry, this world cannot keep up apart. It is destiny, remember?” Joe nodded his head then let it hang down facing Nicky. “Whatever happens, I will always be with you, ‘til my last breath,” Nicky finished. His hands slipped off Joe’s knee while he leaned his shoulder against Joe’s other leg. Joe ran a hand through his love’s hair and Nicky leaned into the touch. They sat in silence for the rest of the ride. Joe closed his eyes and tried to focus on the sound of Nicky breathing. He was here. He was alive. They were together. That was all that mattered, no matter what happened next. Joe knew Nicky’s words were true, they would be together until the end until they drew their last breaths.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first Immortal Husbands fic but I love them so much and really want to write more! Please let me know your thoughts. Or feel free to geek out about the Old Guard with me on [my Tumblr](https://mjsakurea.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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